Network traffic can be optimized, managed, and/or distributed by one or more network traffic management apparatus. Many networks include a plurality of network traffic management apparatus, such as associated with one or more local area networks (LANs) and/or one or more server pools, for example. Additional advantages can be obtained by communicating network traffic between network traffic management apparatus, such as client-side and server-side network traffic management apparatus symmetrically disposed on either side of a wide area network (WAN), for example. In one such deployment, at least one network traffic management apparatus is disposed on a client side of a WAN as associated with a LAN connecting many client computing devices 16(1)-16(n). Additionally, another network traffic management apparatus is disposed on a server side of a WAN as associated with one or more server pools.
In order to manage network traffic in this exemplary deployment, it is advantageous for one or more of the network traffic management apparatus to communicate other information, such as configuration information, to one or more other network traffic management apparatus. Accordingly, a process, thread, application, daemon (e.g. rsync daemon), or service (collectively referred to herein as a “service”) operating on a first network traffic management apparatus, may want to communicate information, such as synchronization data, to a service operating on a second network traffic management apparatus. The service operating on the second network traffic management apparatus can be identified by and associated with a port number. Additionally, it is generally desirable that such communications are secure and that the various network traffic management apparatus are authenticated.
However, many networks employing network traffic management apparatus have a limited quantity of port numbers, often arbitrated by a firewall provided by one or more network devices. As a result, such networks may only make one port number available to a network traffic management apparatus and may use a firewall to restrict network communications identifying a different port number not allocated to the network traffic management apparatus. Accordingly, network communications originating from a first network traffic management apparatus and identifying a service on a second network traffic management apparatus by a destination port number may be filtered prior to reaching the intended destination service operating on the second network traffic management apparatus, which is undesirable.